Arch Enemy and Trivium in Sioux City: November 10

For the second time in less than seven days, I found myself at the Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City, Iowa for a concert.  This time it was a co-headlining show with Trivium and Arch Enemy.  I have seen Trivium once before, so the reason that I chose to go to this one was to see Arch Enemy.  My wife did not come to this one with me.  She had to dog-sit for her parents this weekend.  I am not sure I care much for going to concerts alone. 

The opening band was Fit for an Autopsy, a group that has started to make some waves.  I did not care much for their brand of deathcore personally.  The entire performance was basically one long breakdown.  There were a couple of decent songs, but this is not likely a band I will be seeking out in the future.  The second band was a metalcore group called While She Sleeps.  Now, this is a band I likely would have enjoyed quite a bit more in my early 20's.  They had some decent material and the singer was undeniably charismatic on stage, but again, I am not likely to seek them out further.

Arch Enemy was next on stage and they performed a fantastic set, dedicated mostly to their material since Angela Gossow took over as vocalist and extending into the Alissa White-Glutz era.  White-Glutz is a powerful vocalist, but the true highlight of the entire night was the incredible guitar performances by Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott.  Those two really put on a show.  Arch Enemy was absolutely worth seeing.

Finally, Trivium closed things out.  They played a little shorter set than I expected, and certainly shorter than last year's set.  They have a new album out, which I have not heard yet, and which I am not sure I will be checking out.  The new songs they played were catchy enough, but not as good as some of their earlier material.  Matt Heafy sounded as if he might be suffering from a little bit of a cold as his melodic vocals were not quite up to snuff.  But, Trivium had some impressive songs, just not as impressive as Arch Enemy.

This was only the second time I have ever gone to a concert alone.  Quite frankly, I do not much care for it.  Maybe if it had been a better lineup I might have liked it better.  Trivium sounded a bit off and neither of the opening groups were really impressive.  Arch Enemy was pretty much the only really good thing about the night.

My Metal History Pt. 8: Law School

Why hasn't anyone told me I haven't done one of these in awhile?

Anyway, law school. Law school was a very difficult couple of years of my life, marked by lots of personal turmoil and doubt. One thing that did occur that was good was meeting my future fiancee. Of course, this is more about the metal I listened to.

The summer before law school, I bought my first albums by Meshuggah and In Flames. Meshuggah took a little bit to get into, but once I did, I was entranced by the riffs. Of course, the album that I picked was one of the band's earliest, back when they were more of a technical thrash metal band. In Flames was instantly interesting to me and I would pick up several of their albums over the course of the next three years.

While I was in law school, I was working in assets protection at Target. I witnessed the upswing in popularity of metalcore. Some of the bands I really enjoyed, but many I did not. I started listening to the likes of Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, Bleeding Through, Trivium, and others because Target often sold them for cheap and they were fairly decent bands. I still enjoy the albums I picked up from those bands at the time, although they are not all bands I still listen to often enough to buy new albums.

I continued listening to many of the bands I previously enjoyed. Opeth, Dark Tranquillity, Metallica, Megadeth, and others were still favorites of mine. I also listened to a lot of Moonspell and Tristania, dark, gothic metal groups. I started listening to some more melodeath, spurred by the pickups of Dark Tranquillity and In Flames, I began listening to Arch Enemy. The female vocalist was the main impetus for this pickup. Soilwork was another melodeath band that I started listening to.

I would say that it was in law school that my interest in black metal became more apparent. Groups like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth caught my eye, even though neither are well-received by the black metal scene anymore. But this was my first major exposure to the genre, having gotten glimpses of it in the past. Those pickups both occurred when I was first dating my future fiancee and I remember her being a little freaked out by them.

I did not have a lot of money to spend on CDs in law school, but I managed to discover a lot of new bands. I began scratching the surface of the more extreme genres, but it would not be until after law school, living on my own well away from my family and friends in St. Paul, Nebraska that my interest in metal would become an obsession and my collection would explode.

Women Fronting Metal Bands

I'm fascinated by bands that feature a strong female as their singer. I have no idea why. And I'm not talking about groups like Nightwish, Leaves' Eyes, Lacuna Coil, or others. No, I am talking about real metal: traditional metal, thrash metal, death metal, black metal, and more. None of this gothic metal stuff, not that I mind it, it just does not have the same effect as listening to an aggressive, powerful metal band and finding out that their singer is a woman.

We have long since passed the point where these bands were novelties, yet many of them still are not held up on the same pedestal as their peers. Many of these bands should be regarded as highly as other bands in their individual scene, but are not. They are still viewed as sex objects or in some innate way inferior to other bands. I would like to see this end.

With that being said, here are some of my favorite metal bands with female lead singers. Check them out, you will not be sorry. I am also always looking for more recommendations. I am aware of some other bands that I just have not been able to check out in depth yet, such as Znowhite, Ignitor, Darkestrah, Crystal Viper, Nuclear Death, Voetsek, Madder Mortem, Astarte, Pyrrah, and Ludicra.

HOLY MOSESHoly Moses was around during the 1980's German thrash metal scene. They were a bit more melodic than groups like Kreator, Destruction, and Sodom, but no less punishing. The band has put out several great releases and Sabina Classen's rabid, snarling vocals lead the charge. A great, underrated thrash metal band that is still going strong.
RECOMMENDATION: FINISHED WITH THE DOGS

ARCH ENEMYMost metalheads have heard of Arch Enemy by now. The melodeath band was started by the Amott brothers and originally featured a man by the name of Johan Axelsson on vocals. It was after Angela Gossow, with her psychotic shrieking death growls, took over that the band's mainstream popularity skyrocketed. Yes, that is pretty much entirely due to the female singer doing death growls.
RECOMMENDATION: WAGES OF SIN

CRISISCrisis played an unholy mix of death metal and thrash metal on their early recordings Karyn Crisis's vocals sound seriously disturbed and maniacally sinister. Able to fluctuate between a soft whisper and a primal roar and everything in between in the span of the same lyrical sentence, she truly unnerves the listener.
RECOMMENDATION: DEATHSHED EXTERMINATION

BENEDICTUMBenedictum is a relatively recent band that plays traditional-sounding metal, capitalizing on the recent retro craze. The band is similar musically to Grave Digger and other longtime true metal bands. Veronica Freeman possesses soaring vocals that she puts to great use on their music.
RECOMMENDATION: SEASONS OF TRAGEDY

TEMTRISThe Australian traditional metal band is not real well-known at this point. That may soon change as the band is every bit as competent musically as Benedictum. Genevieve Rodda does not have the same range as Veronica Freeman, but may have a more emotional-sounding voice.
RECOMMENDATION: MASQUERADE

ESTUARYWhy the hell isn't this band better known? And when will they have a new album out? Zdenka Prado's inhuman death growls are easily the equal of any man's and the band's style of death/thrash is infectiously brutal.
RECOMMENDATION: THE CRAFT OF CONTRADICTION

GALLHAMMERJapan's Gallhammer is the result of three girls with a taste for Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and crust punk. They are at their best when they just let the grooving style of Hellhammer/Frost dictate the direction they go. Lead vocalist Vivian Slaughter has a corroded, decayed vocal style that matches the bleakness of the band's music quite well.
RECOMMENDATION: III INNOCENCE

LANDMINE MARATHONI don't know how this band has gotten the tag of hipster metal. Revolver also loves them, which isn't doing them any favors in the metal underground either. But the band plays a mean brand of death/grind most similar to groups like Napalm Death, Carcass, and Bolt Thrower. Vocalist Grace Perry sounds possessed.
RECOMMENDATION: RUSTED EYES AWAKE

DREAMING DEADThis is a very new band, combining elements of black metal, death metal, and thrash metal all together. They play very fast and very brutal and are amazingly talented. This band could be very big someday soon. Vocalist Elizabeth Schall is also one hell of a guitar player, prompting comparisons to Death's Chuck Schuldiner in musical and vocal style.
RECOMMENDATION: WITHIN ONE

Do not sleep on these bands.

Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy vs. Revolver

http://www.metalsucks.net/2010/02/23/angela-gossow-slams-revolvers-hottest-chicks-in-metal/#more-30450

Ah Revolver, what hell have you unleashed now?

A little backstory. Revolver has this thing called the Hottest Chicks in Metal issue. It's been going for awhile now and usually features pictures of girls in metal bands in some state of undress or other. Well, a few years back, Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy appeared the issue. Then she decided she did not care for the image that portrayed and refused to be photographed again. She wanted to be judged based on her talent, not her appearance. Well Revolver kept running the same pictures of her in subsequent issues. Gossow called them on it and one of the editors said that if she did not want to be in that issue, then the magazine would stop covering Arch Enemy.

Seriously, what the fuck kind of attitude is that? I don't have a problem with the women who want to show a little skin. Obviously that's their choice to be viewed in that way. I also don't have a problem with the women who decide not to show skin, that's their choice. However, I think we have to respect their choices both ways. For a magazine to flat out tell someone they will not cover their band because they don't want to be objectified is flat out wrong. By trying to force Gossow into this issue and threatening her with no future coverage of the band just for this one stupid issue is beyond pathetic. It's extremely sexist and Gossow has a right to be outraged.

The fact of the matter is that this is a fucking music magazine. There is no Hottest Dudes in Metal issue. Revolved hit upon a way to make some easy money by showing these women in their magazine. But that doesn't mean it should be required of the women in metal to shed their clothes in order to sell Revolver's magazine. After all, the issue has little to nothing to do with the music. They may mention what band each person is from, but they don't discuss the band.

This whole debacle just proves my theory that Revolver is not a magazine for the metal underground. It's essentially pop fluff aimed at people who have no minds of their own. It's for those people who have barely escaped the MTV world of image-conscious pop music and latched onto Hot Topic. I like seeing half-naked women as much as the next red-blooded American male, hell I have posted pictures of metal women on this very blog, but you can't force someone to take it off. That's what Revolver apparently decided to do.

Trend That Must Stop: Bands Re-recording Their Own Music

Recently, the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy announced that it would be re-recording some of the band's favorite songs from the time when Johan Liiva was the vocalist. Currently, the band is noteworthy for featuring Angela Gossow as their vocalist, noteworthy because Gossow is able to perform the death growls and screaming that characterize death metal. They want to essentially change their history to reflect their current lineup and I have a major problem with it. I have not heard much of the material with Liiva, but changing your past irritates me to no end. Just stand by your old material.

Other bands have also re-recorded their old music, sometimes whole albums. Exodus decided to re-record Bonded by Blood, a major landmark in the thrash metal scene, and sometimes viewed as one of the greatest thrash albums of all time. They did this for the same reason Arch Enemy did, they have a new singer. The problem is that Rob Dukes is not really a thrash vocalist, he is more of a hardcore singer. Asking him to recreate the thrash yelps that former singer Paul Baloff (R.I.P.) perfected is a difficult task. Not to mention that it is disrespectful to the deceased Baloff.

Sodom re-recorded their In the Sign of Evil EP. That EP was one of their earlist recordings and it was sloppy and raw sounding. But that was the appeal of the thing. It was an ugly sounding album that helped launch death and black metal. Why clean it up? It's a classic for a reason.

Finally, Testament and Destruction also re-recorded songs for compilation albums. This doesn't bother me quite as much because those lineups were basically intact and the albums were released as Greatest Hits-type collections (the other three mentioned above were or are being released as new full lengths). This is an interesting way of providing the big songs in a new package.

The whole re-recording thing is a cash grab first and foremost. It is a lazy of trying to sell a few more albums. I would much rather see these bands concentrate their energy on creating new material than in resurrecting their past in a new form.